Lessons learned on city-to-city partnerships

The Flemish municipalities of Brasschaat, Edegem and Herent went through a process, from 2019 to the end of 2022, together with their Latin American twinning partners to experiment with new forms of cooperation and a new interpretation of their partnership.

In doing so, they aimed for:

• more participation within the partnership and within their own municipality;
• an equal partnership with the twinning partner;
• embedding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the twinning and at the local level.

International dialogues, training and practical exercises were organised. The twinning partners summarised their experiences in the publication « City to city partnership in development” in the form of seven lessons learned.

For each lesson learned, they provide challenges, opportunities and practical examples. Some concrete tools and methodologies were also included, such as a ‘participation radar’ to reach a common understanding of the concept of participation as partners.

The publication is available in Dutch, English, French and Spanish.